Extension for table saw

ABSTRACT

A removable extension for a circular table saw comprising a pair of removable arms extending outwardly coaxially with the existing arms and an adapter for supporting the material to be cut which fits over the existing fence for the table saw.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an extension for a table saw tolengthen the cutting distance.

CROSS REFERENCING

Reference is hereby made to disclosure document No. 219745 whichapplicant request be made a part of this file.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Typically a circular table saw has a table on which the material beingcut is moved into a circular cutting blade in order to cut the materialwhich is typically wood. The material is generally moved along a guideor miter gauge to control the cut. Most saws have a maximum cuttingwidth of approximately 24 to 25 inches which presents problems whenattempting to cut material such as plywood which is 48 inches in widthand 8 feet long. It becomes awkward to handle the material particularlyfor one man.

Extensions of table saw tops before have been comprised of componentswhich are permanently bolted or fastened to the table top, making thesaw awkward to store or transport.

Without an extended table when a width of greater than 24 inches ofmaterial is desired, it is necessary to try to calculate the material tobe cut off rather than the width of the material to be cut. This oftenproduces inaccurate results and one is still working on a table which isnarrower than the material desired to be cut which makes it awkward tohandle the material being cut which is greater than 2 feet.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention is directed toward a removable extension to thetable saw which may be attached and detached in a minimal amount of timeto permit storage of the saw in a minimum area or to facilitatetransportation of the saw when being used in remote locations.

The invention comprises a cylindrical adapter which fits inside theexisting arm and is attached thereto and an extension rail which thenattaches to the adapter to extend the existing arms to the desiredlength. Further, a table extender attaches over the existing fence onthe table saw to support the outer edge of the material being cut whenthe saw is used in the extended position.

The primary object of the invention is to extend the usable width of thetable saw to facilitate cutting unusually wide and cumbersome materialsuch as plywood which is easily removable to permit storage andtransportation of the saw.

A further object of the invention is to permit the cutting of the widermaterial in a safe manner.

A further object of the invention is to increase the accuracy in whichthe wider materials are cut.

Other and further objects of the invention would become apparent upondetailed studying of the drawings and specification annexed hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following is a description of the drawings which are annexed heretoto form a portion of the description:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view from the top of a typical table showing theextended arms attached and the fence attachment exploded to more clearlyview the invention, the remaining portion of the saw not being show;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the extension arm with parts brokenaway more clearly illustrate the attachment of the extender arm andshowing the fence adapter attached to the fence;

FIG. 3 is an end view showing a typical operation of cutting thematerial on the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2.

Numeral references are used to designate like parts throughout thevarious figures of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is intended to use on a typical table saw such as thosemodels manufactured by Rockwall International and others utilizing anarm on which the fence is guided along a table to control the width ofthe cut on a typical saw. A typical example of such a saw would beRockwall International's Delta model 34-440 10 inch contractor saw inwhich the table is fixed and the arbor of the blade rotates to controlthe angle of cut on the material. Although this is a typical saw, thereare many other models on which the invention may be used including sawsin which the table tilts to control the angle of the cut and there aremany other manufactures on which this invention is intended to beusable.

Referring to FIG. 1, a table 1 is shown detached from all other parts ofthe saw to more clearly illustrate the invention having a surface 1(a)with edges 1(b) and guide slots 2 and 3. Guide rails 4 and 5 areattached by screws 6 to the edges 1(b) of table 1 to permit the fence 7to be moved along the table 1 to control the width of cut of thematerial.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the invention comprises an adapter 10 whichis in this case tubular in shape having a hole 12 formed in one end ofthe adapter which will be axially aligned to receive fastening meanssuch as bolt 6 through opening 8 in guide rail 4. The bolt 6 screws intoa threaded aperture in the side of table 1. A threaded insert 14 havinga female threaded hole 16 is secured in the end of the adapter 10 bywelding or other means. The end 10(a) of adapter 10 is spaced inwardlyfrom end 4(a) of guide rail 4 as will be further explained hereinafter.The arm extension 20 comprises a tubular pipe having a squared end 20(a)and being of the same diameter as guide rail 4. A connector 22 has amachined threaded end 24 or thread male stud formed thereon and issecured on the inside of extension arm 20 by welding or other means andis axially aligned to screw into threaded opening 16. Squared end of20(a) is adapted to abut end 4(a) of guide rail 4 such that as thethreaded end 24 is threaded and tightened into opening 16 of insert 14by rotating extension arm 20 to turn threaded end 24 into threaded hole16 the arm is squared and axially aligned with the axis of guide rail 4and becomes a rigid extension thereof.

Likewise, an adapter 10 is inserted in guide rail 5 on the opposite sideof the table and extension arm 20 is attached thereto to form twoparallel extension arms 20 extending outwardly from guide rails 4 and 5on opposite sides of table 1.

On the model table saw shown, the rails 4 and 5 are welded tubes and theadapter 10 has a flattened surface running the length of the adapter 20to align with the welds and to align opening 12 with opening 8.

Thus, an axially aligned extension is formed extending the parallelsurface of table 4. A movable fence 7 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 moves alongthe guide rails 4 and 5 and after the extension arms 20 are placedthereon is moveable further outwardly. A material support means 30 isadapted to be placed over the fence 7 to support the edge of thematerial at the same height as table 1. The material support means 30comprises a metal guide which has downwardly descending arm 30(a) ahorizontally extended surface 30(b) which extends across the top offence 7 a downwardly extending arm 30(c) which then extends into ahorizontal surface 30(d). Arms 30(a) and 30(c) are formed tofrictionally slip over guide 7. Surface 30(d) has a material guide plate32 attached thereto by welding or other means which surface forms thesame height as table 1. Plate 32 is attached thereto in order to permitthe edge of the material to abut the downwardly extending arm 30(c) andnot be held away by the corner 30(e ) which due to mechanical bends isslightly rounded and would hold the material slightly off of the fence,thus causing an inaccurate cut.

As can be more fully shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, surface 32 is at the sameheight as surface 1(a) of table 1. A blade 9 extends upwardly from thetable which is driven by a motor, not shown, to cut the material 40.Typically the material 40 has an edge which is extended against amovable fence 7 and in case of the figure shown surface 30(c) of thematerial support means and is moved in a parallel fashion in order toallow the blade 9 to cut the material to the desired width. In the caseshown, the material is desired to be cut at a width of more than thewidth of guide rail 4 and extender arm 20 is attached to permit thematerial 40 to be moved along the upper surface 1(a) of table 1 and thesurface 32 of the material support means 30 which is fitted over fence7. This permits a wider piece of material may be cut.

Typically arms 20 may be inserted or removed by the operator dependingon the width of material which he desires to cut and to facilitate thestorage of the table saw or the movement thereof. Long arms on sawswhich have permanent tables attached create a problem in the movement ofthe saw in that the arms can be easily bent, and once they are must bereplaced because they will not operate properly with the saw. Thus, bybeing able to remove the arms the likelihood of damage to the existingarms is reduced.

The invention as described is intended to be used with several models ofcircular table type saws having any of the affixed table or a tiltingtable to permit accurate and safe cutting of wider material.

It should be readily apparent from the detailed description heretoforegiven that other and further embodiments of the invention may be devisedwithout departing from the spirit scope hereof.

Having described our invention, we claim:
 1. A table extension forextending a table on a table saw having guide rails and a moveable fencecomprising: adapter means connected to the existing guide rails of thetable saw; extender arms having the cross sectional configuration thesame as the guide rail; means connecting the extension arm and theadapter means to axially align the guide rails and the extender arm toextend the length of the guide rail on the table saw; and a materialsupport means having a horizontal surface the same height as the tableof the saw being adapted to slide over the existing fence so as tosupport the of the material being cut.
 2. The combination called for inclaim 1 wherein there adapter means comprises: a tubular member adaptedto fit inside the guide rails, said tubular member having a threadedopening formed in one end which faces outward to receive the meansconnecting the extension arms and an opening formed transverse to theaxis of the member at the opposite end to permit attachment to the guiderails.
 3. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the guide railscomprise hollow tubular members having an internal weld; and the tubularmember has a flat surface formed along the length thereof which alignswith the weld on the guide means to line up the tubular member.
 4. Thecombination called for in claim 1 wherein the means connecting theextender arms and adapter means comprises: a threaded stud extendingoutwardly from one end and axially aligned; a threaded opening formed inone end of the adapter means and axially aligned to receive the threadedstud; and the adapter means being spaced inwardly from the end of theguide rails such that the end of the extender arms meet the end of theguide rails.